Beef Stew
Liana had been badgering me to make beef stew for ages, so today thought had better do it as I have time to cook it properly.
Recipe taken from Jamie Oliver
Ingredients:
olive oil
a knob of butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped
a handful of fresh sage leaves
800g/1¾lb stewing steak or beef skirt, cut into 5cm/2 inch pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
flour, to dust
2 parsnips, peeled and quartered
4 carrots, peeled and halved
½ a butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced
optional: a handful of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and halved
500g/1lb 2oz small potatoes
2 tbsps tomato purée
½ a bottle of red wine
285ml/½ pint beef or vegetable stock
zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
a handful of rosemary, leaves picked
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160ºC/300ºF/gas 2. Put a little oil and your knob of butter into an appropriately sized pot or casserole pan. Add your onion and all the sage leaves and fry for 3 or 4 minutes. Toss the meat in a little seasoned flour, then add it to the pan with all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and stock, and gently stir together. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper and just a little salt. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, then cook in the preheated oven until the meat is tender. Sometimes this takes 3 hours, sometimes 4 – it depends on what cut of meat you’re using and how fresh it is. The only way to test is to mash up a piece of meat and if it falls apart easily it’s ready. Once it’s cooked, you can turn the oven down to about 110°C/225°F/gas ¼ and just hold it there until you’re ready to eat.
